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The inside of the tent would likely seem familiar to Siyana, had she any real memory of it from before. The same muted blues and purples, the same strong herbal scents, the same unusual spaciousness despite the abundance of… well, /stuff/, that was in it. The lanterns illuminated the chemistry tables, the shelves of potions and hanging racks of charms, the writing desk and the tables of ingredients and odds-and-ends.

There were some differences, however. A cauldron bubbled with what appeared to be… stew? Not a potion, at least. Or if so, a brown lumpy one. The desk looked recently used, the inks open and the quills dipped, a page of parchment sporting a half-finished, very intricate illuminated text. A small — and likely familiar — model pirate ship sat on what had before been an empty shelf, and was still empty except for this little trinket.

The velvet curtain was half-drawn, a soft humming and moving shadow behind it telling any newcomers that the occupant was likely behind it.

"Watcher! Are you here?" The quiet peace of the tent is thoughtlessly broken by a voice that Manyara will find familiar, soon followed by an equally familiar little white unicorn trotting through the front curtain. "I found something in the forest that may be of interest to you." Snowfield glances back at the entrance to the tent expectantly.

It's a scraggly little zebra that bounces in after Snowfield, looking exhausted but too excited to be properly sleepy. There's an ice blue rose clenched in her teeth — a Windigo's Kiss bloom — muffling her words. "-iss Fo-tune Tellah! -iss Fo-tune Tellah! We -ot you a /-eally p-etty flowuh/! He-e!!" Siyana bounces her little blue-haired self in further into the tent, seeking the abada.

The humming stops at the sound of the voices; after a moment Manyara's head pokes through the opening in the curtain. "Well hello again, Snowfield, Siyana! My, that is quite the pretty blossom, isn't it?" She smiled warmly, stepping out into the main room.

"I should hope it's pretty enough for you," Snowfield says with a degree of agitation in her voice. "This little fool and her friends got themselves lost in Wintersong trying to find it. It was an amazing stroke of luck that they happened to run past my grotto while I was sculpting in it, on any other night they would have been food for the snow bunnies." She gives Siyana a Big Frown to get the point across.

Siyana, covered in dirt, scratches, and twigs, has the grace to kick a hoof and look sheepish at the upbraiding. Briefly, anyway. Her hooves start to dance a little in eagerness, before she races over toward the strange abada. "Quick! 'fore it asplodes!" She offers it up, giving Manyara the most starry-eyed hopeful look.

Manyara chuckles, eyes twinkling as she looked the two over before her gaze came to rest on Siyana. "It sounds as though you've had quite the adventure!"

She bends to take the flower gently, placing it with care into a waiting vase, quite away from the other more normal and boring roses.

Snowfield rolls her eyes. "It's not going to 'asplode', we're out of the sun. Even if we weren't it would just crumble to dust." She turns her attention to Manyara. "Are you really going to humor this little filly's delusions of cutie marks? Nothing good has ever come out of trying to force that, you know it to be true as well as I do."

Siyana scooooffs. "It'll be just fine!" she sighs. "I almost got it /anyway/ so it's just a little nudge in the right direction, is all. See?" She looks quite confident, though she keeps dancing on her hooves in excitement. Eeeee~

Manyara smiles faintly, casting Snowfield a knowing glance. "It can be difficult to be patient, especially for little ones. A cutie mark is such a significant thing, after all." She cast a quick glance back at hers, chuckling softly. "Searching for yourself can take such a long time," she added, glancing down at Siyana. "Though… at times the search is half the fun. Are you sure in your wish?"

"That's not how cutie marks work," Snowfield says in an effort to not allow Siyana to have any fun. "You can't 'almost' get them." She catches sight of Manyara's sly smile and turns her nose up slightly. "Regardless, if you wish to rely on strange magics, that is your perogative. I shan't have any further involvement in the matter, but do not say you weren't warned."

Siyana huffs. "Of course it's my wish! I super super SUPER want to get a cutie mark and your magic can figure out what I'm best at!" SO THERE. She bounces a few more times for good measure. "And ANYWAY, I don't /need/ a warning, Miss Snowfield!" SO THBBT.

Manyara nods slowly. "Well, if you're certain. You've made your wish and your payment, so I must grant you your desire." She stretched up to take a vial of purple-y liquid from a shelf, dumping it into a nearby cauldron and nosing around on a lower shelf for some other oddly-colored vial.

Snowfield is not going to have any part of this nonsense. She's successfully delivered Siyana to the gypsy, that's all the unicorn planned to do. Without another word she exits the tent.

A sprinkle of this, a dash of that, and a pinch of some powder that makes the whole thing go POOF! This one smelled… flowery. Like daisies! Yum, daisies. The bright pink color was /not/ very daisy-ish, though.

She ladeled the liquid into a mug and set it down in front of Siyana, horn glowing gently. "Couple good gulps of that and your flank will no longer be blank."

Siyana reaches for the mug, staring down into it and heart hammering wildly. No longer a blank flank? She takes a deep breath, and leans down to pluck it up with her hooves and then…she knocks it back into her mouth, squeezes her eyes shut tight, and drinks it all.

The liquid would have a pleasant, flowery taste — not exactly daisies, though, but something unplacable — and have a slight warmth to it as she swallowed it.

The mark began forming immediately, as if drawn by a quill — which was appropriate, as what was forming seemed to /be/ a quill. And an inkwell. And parchment, with a half-drawn, very fancy-looking 'S' in the process of being scripted by said quill in a blue tint that would match the young Zebra's mane and tail.

Siyana squeezes her eyes tight as she feels the warmth spread through her body, but as the feeling of, for lack of better word, /finality/ settles on her shoulders, her blue eyes snap open and she whips her head to look at her flank. "What is it? What's it in? Is it pirating?!" She turns in a circle, then pauses, and blinks in surprise as she spots it. "A… a parchment and quill? What's it mean??"

Manyara dips her head to look at it thoughtfully. "Hm. Interesting. You must have a steady hoof, dear. Penmanship, perhaps? Illuminated writing, maybe! A rare art, nowadays."

Siyana lifts one rear leg, then the other, and she seems so excited! And so confused! "Well— I guess I can write okay? Maybe I can write books about adventures like Daring Do! Yeah?"

Manyara chuckles. "Well, perhaps. Though the script is usually used more for religious texts. Or magic theorums, fairy tales… you don't see illumination much in novels. Which is a pity," she admits, "it is quite a lovely art."

Siyana blinks again, and lifts her haunch one more time. "Religious texts? Magic theorums? Um… well, okay! I- I bet that's really cool!" She stays upbeat, but she's obviously confused since this wasn't what she expected at all. Still, she smiles up at Manyara. "Thank you, miss!"

Manyara smiles back at her. "You're welcome, dear. I do hope you are satisfied. And thank /you/ for the lovely flower."

"I— I am!" Siyana's sure she's satisfied. There's no room in her brain for the possibility that she's not. "I— I'll see you later! Um, and thank you again!" And with that the little filly races out of the tent, a whirl of confusion and uncertainty and excitement. She has her cutie mark! … But is it the one she wants?